eMailbag- Role of Optimist vs P-class? Updates!

by David Pierce on 24 Jul 2006 From David Pierce:

There is an interesting debate emerging on the role of the Opti versus the P as the source of the country's sailing talent.

It would appear that New Zealand's success on the world stage is mainly at the big end of the scale, in other words boats crewed by those whose racing careers started with the P, and where the Opti was just a Learn to Sail boat and not a Learn to Race, or even Serious Racing Boat.

The Opti has now become the politically correct boat which no one is willing to criticise because of the weight of parents behind it, many of whom do not sail, let alone have sailed a P or Starling and therefore have no experience of what the next stage is all about.

While visiting the Auckland North's loft, I had an interesting conversation with one of the younger sailmakers there, who competed in no less than five Tauranga Cups. He is probably among the last generation of Kiwis not caught up in the present widespread practice of staying in the Opti until the last legal moment, regardless of whether it makes sense for that sailor's long term sailing career. Progression steps should be determined by skill levels not birthdays. There is ample evidence of the consequences of staying in an easy to balance boat with restricted sail trim controls:

- The last Olympic team were probably the first to have experienced an extended Opti immersion, and their results were widely seen as disappointing. The result was the usual 'blame the coach', which led to a wholesale change of guard on the High Performance side at YNZ.

In retrospect it was probably not fair on the management. They were left to deal with a team that were short on experience of balance and sail trim during the formative years of their initial race training which took place in Optis rather than P Classes,

- All the best results internationally are occurring among the older sailors who spent their formative years in the P Class. The recent result in the Volvo round the world race, where the winning boat had five Kiwis (including skipper) out of eight crew, is only the latest in a series of results that confirm this pattern,

- nearly 50% of the Americas cup crews (across all the nations competing) are NZ sailors most of whom served their time in the P Class.

There is a place for the Opti. Parents and skippers should be allowed to stay sailing in the boat, providing the YNZ syllabus gives them the 'sailor's career health warning'. If their objectives are solely to introduce their kids to sailing and racing a beginners boat and not progress, they are free to do so. However the yachting fraternity should inform them that this is really the sailing equivalent of leaving their kid in the kindy until nine years old rather than moving onto Primary (P Class), Intermediate (Starling) and High School (Laser/420/3.7/Junior Cherub) when their skill (and not their age) permits them to progress. For some families this is may be a perfectly acceptable goal, but we owe it to them to allow them an informed choice.


From Grant Beck:

Interesting opinion on the P class versus the opti and there is no doubt that the P does offer a onsiderable challange versus the opti which really is a 'safe' boat to sail.

Success at the Olympics and in other top level events around the world and relating this to the opti, Hmm well that's a big call, and in doing so David has not considered what the other 10 to 20 countries who beat us do with their young sailors. I don't think they have P classes available in Europe or Asia, so perhaps the question of success is more complex than just one junior class.

From Mike Lanigan www.gulfwind.co.nz :

What a great article on how we are introducing our youth to sailing and then developing them through into the racing scene. I agree with all that David Pierce has written and his article should be sent to every youth Yacht Club in NZ.

In the earlier 1960's I sailed in two Tauranga Cups. The skills learnt then have been with me all my sailing life. They were an excellent training yacht then and the basics are the same today. They are difficult to sail especially in a breeze and you had to learn fast or you went swimming.

I run Gulfwind Sailing Academy and see many people who have little or no small boat experience and it certainly takes time for them to get an appreciation and understanding on the effect of the wind on the sails.

Long live the P Class and may we continue to produce champion sailors in the future

From: Graham Cooke

I was fortunate to manage the first NZ Optimist team of 4 sailors, that participated at the IODA Optimist Worlds in Porto Carras, Greece in 1991.

In those days the P class was considered the racing yacht and the Optimist the learn to sail. By far the majority of Optimists were home constructed wooden boats.

Selection for the NZ Optimist team was from the first 12 place getters at the 1991 Tauranga Cup. Selection Trials were in Optimists. The team was Simon Cooke (64kg), Andrew Escourt (66kg), Scott Radley (68 kg) and Craig Brown (70kg). I mention weight as one of the critical components of performance in these tightly restricted classes as is the Laser.

I don't agree that the reason for our lack of performance at the Greece Olympics was due to Optimist v P class debate.

I put our lack of performance squarely on the archaic 'one regatta takes all' NZ selection trials. To perform at a World Class level requires international competition and plenty of it. NZ has been slow to recognize this fact, it is ridiculous to have NZ trials in small fleets that invariably lack depth and based on a one regatta performance. It is unreasonable to expect a sailor to jump into a class do little international racing, win the trials (does happen) then be expected to perform at an international level and win a medal.

Carl Evans who has performed extremely well, winning the Tanner and Tauranga Cup this year and was NZ top performer at the World Optimist Championships in 2005 and also this year has teamed up with Peter Burling in the 420 class and consistently outperformed all others this season. Again due to the flawed selection process 'one regatta takes all' missed out on the NZ Youth World selection.

However, Carl Evans is the exception rather than the rule.

Like David I am concerned at lack of depth at the International level in most of our NZ Olympic classes.

Lack of family financial resources can and does impact on that lack of depth. Far too many classes can impact as well.

For a family to have son/daughter compete at a national level successfully in the youth classes a family needs at least a top performance Optimist, P class, Starling and a 420, if their direction is in a two handed yacht.

When Rohan and Simon Cooke raced in the youth classes we needed two P class, two Starlings, Laser, Laser II and a 470, ultimately owning two 470 yachts. Simon Cooke being our most recent 470 World Champion (Simon won the Tanner Cup once and the Tauranga Cup twice).

Other countries don't have our P class yet they have performed very well internationally. Australia has recently out performed NZ at Olympics and World Championships, they have the Sabot and no Optimist/P class. However, NZ sailors do feature at all levels of International Racing in proportion to the size of our population (less than 4million).

Will New Zealanders continue to feature at all levels of International racing in years to come? I am not so sure, as it is a fact that sailing an Optimist is easier than sailing the P class.

From: Robert Wilkes, Secretary, International Optimist Dinghy Association

The remarks of David Pierce on the effect of the Optimist on New Zealand's Olympic results overlook the fact that most of the sailors who had better results than the NZL team were Optimist trained. Moreover these sailors had remained in the Optimist Class lon